A 3-D-Printed Guitar That Actually Sounds Good

A 3-D-Printed Guitar That Actually Sounds Good

The 3-D-printed guitar had impressive range that improved on faulty older instruments

Photo by FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP/GettyImages.

What do the foremost experts on 3-D printing do on vacation? In Scott Summit’s case, he dreams up his perfect instrument—and that would eventually become one of the world’s first 3-D-printed guitars. BusinessWeek reports that Summit took an early model on his laptop to 3D Systems, which then used elaborate 3-D printers to realize his vision.

They didn’t expect much, but to their surprise, the plastic guitar came together and withstood stringing to create an actual acoustic instrument that actually sounded good: “It’s rich and full and has a great tonal range,” according to Summit.

Fender lovers take note. Summit now plans to warp the design to see what new, unique sounds he can conjure. To which we can only say: Where are the recordings?

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